“I am working on my BS Religion in Christian
Ministries. I was converted rather dramatically in 2010
and have dedicated my life to serving Christ and seeking
truth, which has led to my desire not to accept
dogmatically any doctrine taught by the Church, but to
look for the best possible biblical understanding of the
faith as the Early Church would have understood it, in its
original context from those who would have lived in
Hellenized society but would have clung to a truly Jewish
understanding of the Abrahamic faith.
Because of this, using many of the methods of Bible study taught during my course of study, I often found myself taking theological positions contrary to those taught at my evangelical school.
“Upon writing on the nature of Christ in a theology class, for instance, and truly studying John 1:1 and the Greek understanding of logos, I found that John was arguing fiercely for a monotheistic faith, and that this was not the defense of the Trinity that most evangelicals make it out to be. As I continued to study and write on the nature of Christ, I found all explanations incomprehensible unless I was to remove any Trinitarian presuppositions. Jesus was not pre-human, preexistent, since Jesus really was a man. Jesus is not synonymous with a preexisting logos, as this was a term that was already understood in Greek philosophy as the divine order in the universe, something that the Apostles attributed to God the Father.
“While I struggled with my discoveries, this actually caused me to be able to eliminate many stumbling blocks caused by the inherited, incomprehensible doctrine, and to appreciate Christ as the Jewish Messiah; the righteous man appointed by God to atone for our sin and become the first immortalized man, by resurrection.
Our Lord was a man who was tempted as we are, and since he was a man he would have been capable of succumbing to such temptation, but he overcame temptation by standing on the Word of God. A man who, because he was righteous and sinless, and because he was appointed by God, could make atonement for those foreknown to be God’s people, the Church.
“Likewise, when writing on the doctrine of hell, I found that I could no longer subscribe to the notion that hell exists as a place of eternal punishment for the sinner, but, rather, had to accept that the Jewish people taught that people are asleep in death (Dan. 12:2) and that all dead are in the grave, not being immediately sent to a heaven or hell, as Christians now teach. Also, it is clear that the word Gehenna, translated as hell, refers to an actual valley outside of Jerusalem, where the bodies of the wicked and of animals were often disposed of. The overall teaching of the Old and New Testament indicates that the soul is not immortal — another construct from Greek philosophy — and that the dead are doomed to destruction (this is widely admitted in scholarly literature, too). They will physically die in disgrace and be forever separated from God by his wrath, which inevitably caused their permanent destruction. The righteous, however, are granted eternal life, which is literally ‘the life of the age to come,’ the Kingdom of God on earth.
“Furthermore, even though I have previously preached contrary to this fact in churches, as it was clearly expected and dogmatically accepted, the truth is that the dead in Christ do not float around in the clouds in some harp-filled heaven surrounded by the angels. This makes for a comforting notion during funerals, but it detracts and diverts from the hope that we have in the Resurrection.
Nowhere is this notion of immediate paradise after death taught in Scripture. Instead, the dead in Christ rise to dwell and reign here on earth (Rev. 5:10, etc.), as our Redeemer restores it. It is here on this planet renewed that the new heaven and new earth will exist.
“I am pleasantly shocked to find a group of people who are so theologically in line. I have almost feared sharing my views on many things elsewhere, as I know that they would quickly cause me to be labeled a heretic. In the sense that I advocate for an alternative school of thought, one based on the Scriptures and not the traditions of man, indeed I am a heretic, but I do wish that I could express these truths more freely without being condemned by the churches. “As I continue to seek my role in the proclamation of the Gospel, I would surely like to do so alongside brothers and sisters in Christ who are equally willing to seek the truth in the Scriptures, and teach sound doctrine concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I ... really look forward to continuing to reach out to like-minded individuals, and to be able to work together to better understand our Messiah and the Gospel, and to be better at proclaiming this Gospel of the Kingdom.” — Ohio
The above comment can be found in Vol 17 No.12 of Focus on the Kingdom.
Because of this, using many of the methods of Bible study taught during my course of study, I often found myself taking theological positions contrary to those taught at my evangelical school.
“Upon writing on the nature of Christ in a theology class, for instance, and truly studying John 1:1 and the Greek understanding of logos, I found that John was arguing fiercely for a monotheistic faith, and that this was not the defense of the Trinity that most evangelicals make it out to be. As I continued to study and write on the nature of Christ, I found all explanations incomprehensible unless I was to remove any Trinitarian presuppositions. Jesus was not pre-human, preexistent, since Jesus really was a man. Jesus is not synonymous with a preexisting logos, as this was a term that was already understood in Greek philosophy as the divine order in the universe, something that the Apostles attributed to God the Father.
“While I struggled with my discoveries, this actually caused me to be able to eliminate many stumbling blocks caused by the inherited, incomprehensible doctrine, and to appreciate Christ as the Jewish Messiah; the righteous man appointed by God to atone for our sin and become the first immortalized man, by resurrection.
Our Lord was a man who was tempted as we are, and since he was a man he would have been capable of succumbing to such temptation, but he overcame temptation by standing on the Word of God. A man who, because he was righteous and sinless, and because he was appointed by God, could make atonement for those foreknown to be God’s people, the Church.
“Likewise, when writing on the doctrine of hell, I found that I could no longer subscribe to the notion that hell exists as a place of eternal punishment for the sinner, but, rather, had to accept that the Jewish people taught that people are asleep in death (Dan. 12:2) and that all dead are in the grave, not being immediately sent to a heaven or hell, as Christians now teach. Also, it is clear that the word Gehenna, translated as hell, refers to an actual valley outside of Jerusalem, where the bodies of the wicked and of animals were often disposed of. The overall teaching of the Old and New Testament indicates that the soul is not immortal — another construct from Greek philosophy — and that the dead are doomed to destruction (this is widely admitted in scholarly literature, too). They will physically die in disgrace and be forever separated from God by his wrath, which inevitably caused their permanent destruction. The righteous, however, are granted eternal life, which is literally ‘the life of the age to come,’ the Kingdom of God on earth.
“Furthermore, even though I have previously preached contrary to this fact in churches, as it was clearly expected and dogmatically accepted, the truth is that the dead in Christ do not float around in the clouds in some harp-filled heaven surrounded by the angels. This makes for a comforting notion during funerals, but it detracts and diverts from the hope that we have in the Resurrection.
Nowhere is this notion of immediate paradise after death taught in Scripture. Instead, the dead in Christ rise to dwell and reign here on earth (Rev. 5:10, etc.), as our Redeemer restores it. It is here on this planet renewed that the new heaven and new earth will exist.
“I am pleasantly shocked to find a group of people who are so theologically in line. I have almost feared sharing my views on many things elsewhere, as I know that they would quickly cause me to be labeled a heretic. In the sense that I advocate for an alternative school of thought, one based on the Scriptures and not the traditions of man, indeed I am a heretic, but I do wish that I could express these truths more freely without being condemned by the churches. “As I continue to seek my role in the proclamation of the Gospel, I would surely like to do so alongside brothers and sisters in Christ who are equally willing to seek the truth in the Scriptures, and teach sound doctrine concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I ... really look forward to continuing to reach out to like-minded individuals, and to be able to work together to better understand our Messiah and the Gospel, and to be better at proclaiming this Gospel of the Kingdom.” — Ohio
The above comment can be found in Vol 17 No.12 of Focus on the Kingdom.
